21/365

***DISCLAIMER*** I took many pictures today and so many of them were great, this post will have A LOT of pictures.

View of the port with mountains in the background, while I was stuck in traffic

 Today we went to the Fur Rondy.  The Fur Rondy is basically a winter carnival.  Back in frontier days (which really weren’t that long ago in Alaska) around this time of year all of the trappers would rendezvous in Anchorage to sell their furs.  This time of year evolved into a party of sorts.  And today they have dog sled races, carnival rides, booths of amazing local goods for sale, snow sculptures, fun runs and of course fur auctions.  It really is a cool thing.  The last day of the Rondy marks the beginning of the Iditarod.  The ceremonial start is here in Anchorage.  Then the next day is the real start up in Willow.

Today we watched some of the dog sled teams take off for today’s race.  The Rondy race is a 25 mile sprint.  They lay down snow in the middle of the road throughout town and the dogs’ race on that.  I thought it was the coolest thing.  Kayleigh loved it too!  I am so excited to see the ceremony next week for the Iditarod.  And I can’t wait until next year’s Rondy so Nate can be here to enjoy it with us.  Things without him seem sort of empty.  I really enjoy having someone to share all of these experiences with.  I know the kids are sharing all of this with me, but it’s not the same.  It just seems kind of pointless to do these things if I can’t turn to Nate and say, “Wow.  That was cool.”  I really can’t wait for him to get back.

The dogs we really excited.  You could tell that they really love what they do.

This was my favorite snow sculpture.  See that guy with the football?  He was the kids dad for the day ;)

 The kids also rode a ride.  Yes only one ride, tickets were $1 each and rides were between 3-6 tickets.  Seriously expensive.  And it's boring watching kids ride rides.  They had fun though.

Later tonight, since it is our anniversary, I decided that I wasn’t going to cook.  So we went to the Sourdough Mining Company for dinner.  The food was good.  The portions were HUGE!  We started off with korn fritters, in honor of Nate.  I had Alaska Chowder.  It was kind of like a New England Clam Chowder, but instead of clams there was shrimp, halibut, scallops and something else in it.  It was quite tasty, but I couldn’t finish it.  I think I gorged myself on those korn fritters.

These were the giant, delicious corn fritters!

 

Here was my Alaska Chowder.  I barely ate any of it, but it was delicious!  Hopefully it will taste just a good tomorrow.

The kids showed me some anniversary love.  Spencer gave me hugs and Kayleigh made me hand hearts from across the table. :)

And of course Kayleigh loved the free ice cream at the end!